The Knock Back: Knocking Around

There are two types of Alberta Street bars: sticky-floored
dives and whatever’s around the corner from your house. For all its
gentrified, au courant hipness, the area still lacks an anchoring
nightspot—a Dig a Pony or a Beulahland, say—that serves as a social
nexus for the entire neighborhood. It is a street full of perfectly
acceptable bars, of which The Knock Back(2315 NE Alberta St., 284-4090, theknockback.com)
is the latest addition. Located in the former Del Inti space, in the
center of Last Thursday territory, it is literally middle of the road,
with a comfortable, burgundy-hued atmosphere, a small stage for weekly
live music, two patios—one covered, the other with a fire pit—and a
requisite pair of taxidermied animal heads affixed to a wall. Neither a
Pabst-stained clubhouse nor a hoity-toity mixology lab, the drink menu
features rotating craft brews and house punch, a solid Old Fashioned
($7) and a couple of outliers, including the Soju Mule (basically a
vodka soda augmented with the titular Korean liquor) and hot buttered
rum infused with squash. If you live next door, you’ll probably be there
a lot. Otherwise, you’ll visit once, think it nice and not return until
taking cover from the stilt walkers or unicycle jousters in the summer.